Episode 127: Ditch People Pleasing and Seek God's Approval

Who are you trying to impress? How often do you buy name brand or trendy styles not because you like them, but because you want other people to like what you have? Often we can buy into the consumerism mindset of trying to buy our happiness or buy things to please other people in attempts to make us happy. Is your goal to please someone else? Do you buy into the lie that you can buy happiness? Let’s dive into Galatians chapter 1 together to see what God’s Word says about impressing other people. 

Let's connect!

Follow me on TikTok @givingyourbestlife

Join me on YouTube

Shop my books here

With gratitude, Stephanie❤️

Transcript

House Staging And First Impressions

Shopping To Fill A Void

Galatians On Approval And Truth

Pray, Repent, And Rebuild Habits

Share, Review, And Connect

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Are you trying to impress? This is my question today for you on the Giving Your Best Life podcast. And I thought about this question as my husband and I have our home up for sale. A realtor wanted to go us to go buy a bunch of different stuff to stage our house. Now, what's interesting is probably a decade ago, I became an accredited staging professional. And so I understand all about staging. And it is amazing. Like in one area of our home, we just took out all the workout equipment and moved it out to the barn. And that, like the reason why you do that is so people can see the space. You know, if you've got a bunch of stuff in the space, you can't see that. So that's one way you can stage a house is you're kind of making something look, well, you're showing the real part of the house without covering it up. The other thing though is like one of the things that we went and bought was just a higher end um bed spread and putting blankets out on things and brightening up the kitchen. Our kitchen is, I don't want to say stark white, but like our countertops are white, our cabinets are white, and just to put like pops of color, and so I got like some uh yellow flowers and teal plates and yellow napkins, and just like again, you're not hiding anything, but it's just bringing some life and color into the house. And so as I was shopping, and if one of the things that you will learn about me is I'm not a big shopper, I don't like to spend money, and that used to be me. That was the old Stephanie. Spend your weekends out going shopping, buying stuff that you didn't need, uh, maybe just to fill a void. I think a lot of times that's why we do shop is to fill a void. But also a lot of times we shop is to impress other people, which goes to my question of who are you trying to impress? And I thought about that because as I'm like putting, you know, nicer bed spreads down and just doing this to the kitchen, it's like, oh, I'm trying to impress the people who are coming into our home. And it just got me thinking about isn't that how much how we often live our lives? So I want you to think about it as a 20-something young gal. And when I was your age, it's like I wanted to buy brand name clothes. You know, I wanted to do things that other people were doing. I wanted to shop at now, this is gonna go back in the day, but like I wanted to shop at Pier one. I wanted my stuff in my home to be from Pier one. And it was because I was trying to impress those that are around me. And it's a great way to get into credit card debt if you don't have the money. So I will say, you know, when I was like coming out of college the first couple of years, is I didn't have massive debt, but it was like still always carrying something on my credit card because I was spending more than I was making. That's another topic when we talk about budgets and money. But what I realized is the things that I was buying, I didn't need these things. It was things that I was just buying to impress other people. So let's see what the Bible um, and it's not the verse that I'm gonna read you in the Bible isn't um talking about material possessions, but I just love it in the context of like who are we trying to get approval from? Is it somebody else, or is everything that we are doing, we are doing in the vein of I am only trying to like impress God, get God's approval, do whatever God is calling me to do. And so let's go to Galatians. Um if you have a Bible, pull it out. If you don't, send me a message, I'll send you a free Bible. Um, and this is a letter to from Paul to the Galatians, and he says, starting in verse 3, may God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. I love that. I love how he starts that. So that's my message to you is may the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. It says, Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever. Amen. And that is the gospel. Jesus Christ gave, if you are not saved, Jesus Christ gave his life for you to take away our sins. And what is of this world is this material possessions, wanting to um impress people with the things that we have, things of this world. He goes on to say, is I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the good news, but is not the good news at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. And I think in the context of what we're talking about today, is that we are sold this lie that if you buy the right clothes, you buy the right neighborhood, you buy the right car, you go to the right school, whatever it is, that you will be happy. You will find your happiness and those things. And that is not true. That is not true. It goes on to say, as he's talking about this um in verse 10 is obviously I'm not trying to win the approval of people. So in the things that you're doing, are you trying to win the approval of people but of God? If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. And I just think about you know, in what I want to do through this Giving Your Best Life podcast, it is always my goal is to turn you back to Christ and how Christ lived his life, and how we are called as Christians to live our life. Um, and it's not to do things or say things that are going to impress people for people's approval for to people please, but it is what does the Bible say, and how do we live out our days, not in consuming stuff, besides consuming the word of God and living by the truth of what this says. So today I'll just wrap up with that question for you of who are you trying to impress? And I'll just challenge you to get into the word of God. And if there are things that you're struggling with, is to pray. Um, to pray, to confess any sins that you have, repent and turn away from that. And you can. I like I said, I used to be somebody who was buying stuff in consumerism, and you can turn away from that, you can break those habits or strongholds or whatever you're trying to fill up because the only thing that's going to be able to fill you in this life is Jesus Christ. Um, and so pray and get in the word of God and let God guide you in how you spend your time, how you spend your resources, and how you spend your talents that you have been given by only God. So I hope this has challenged you, encouraged you. Share this with one of your friends, and I'll see you on the next episode of Giving Your Best Life. Thank you for listening to the Giving Your Best Life podcast. If this episode encouraged you, would you please share it with a friend or family member? Also, we'd love it if you would rate and review this podcast. Finally, if you want to connect with us, subscribe to our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok and Instagram at giving your best life. Have a fabulous day.